Hauptseminar Sex Gender and the City Henry James in Paris

Henry James’s late prose is like slow food: take your time, and it tastes like heaven. His masterpiece, The Ambassadors (1903), is a case in point. Somewhat slow going, this novel is set mostly in Paris - sin city, as far as the New England town of Woollett is concerned, from where Lambert Strether, the central character and the -reflector” of the action, is sent out to rescue a wayward son from the clutches of a (supposedly) wicked French lady. Other characters intervene, and all kinds of issues intersect: gender and sex, class, ethnicity, age, and education, country and city manners, notions and -notes” of America (or rather, New England), Britain (or rather, England), and Europe (France, or, indeed, Paris). The Ambassadors, a sophisticated exploration of the -international theme” is obsessed with perception and vision, appearance and reality, language and the unspeakable. Hence we will study it, slowly but carefully, in terms of James’s style, narrative technique, characterization (esp. with respect to gender roles), plot structure, major ideas and key images. Moreover, Ambassadors enables us to look at the problems (and pleasures) of literary translation, and we will take a lesson from The Master and engage in a little creative translation ourselves. Students are requested to buy Adrian Poole’s edition of The Ambassadors (Penguin Classics), available at good bookstores like Uni-Buch. Additional material and a course outline will be provided in a reader on the reserve shelf in BB2, weeks ahead of the term. Voraussetzungen This course is only open to students who have successfully completed at least an undergraduate research paper (-Proseminararbeit-) in Literary Studies. Regular and active participation, including a short oral report, is required of everybody. Prior to the first meeting, you must have read (quiz!) at least the first half (-books” 1-5) of Ambassadors (pp. 21-191 in the Penguin ed.), and you should be familiar with key concepts of textual and narratological analysis. We will practise the following skills (-Kompetenzen”) on an advanced level: close reading in English and German, comparison of novelistic and filmic narration, library research, composing outlines or hand-outs, and giving oral presentations in class. Leistungsnachweis Credit (-Studienleistung-) for regular and active participation, including an oral presentation with handout; full credit (-Prüfungsleistung-) for an additional term paper (approx. 20-25 standard pages). Topics of your choice can be discussed with me well in advance. FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik This course is only open to students who have successfully completed at least an undergraduate research paper (-Proseminararbeit-) in Literary Studies. Regular and active participation, including a short oral report, is required of everybody. Prior to the first meeting, you must have read (quiz!) at least the first half (-books” 1-5) of Ambassadors (pp. 21-191 in the Penguin ed.), and you should be familiar with key concepts of textual and narratological analysis. We will practise the following skills (-Kompetenzen”) on an advanced level: close reading in English and German, comparison of novelistic and filmic narration, library research, composing outlines or hand-outs, and giving oral presentations in class. Credit (-Studienleistung-) for regular and active participation, including an oral presentation with handout; full credit (-Prüfungsleistung-) for an additional term paper (approx. 20-25 standard pages). Topics of your choice can be discussed with me well in advance. Uni Kassel SoSe 2015 Amerikanistik English and American Studies HF Prof. Dr. Göske Daniel